So I've read that the current asteroid respawning is actually a bug and that this is not their intended behavior. Its also currently against many server rules to mine planets, because of the lag created by taking large ships near them.
So how about the ability to build mining stations?
First way of doing that which comes to mind for me would be blocks like factories which can be placed on asteroids that slowly produce ore/crystal/stone normally found on the asteroid on which it was placed. It would produce far less than simply eating the entire asteroid, but it would be a steady renewable supply of materials over time. Let factory enhancers speed up how fast you can extract material, and have an upper limit to how much you can get per tick based on the size of the asteroid you built it on.
That way, when the asteroid respawn thing gets fixed, you could eat the asteroid with salvage beams for a quick boost, or you could invest the resources into building a full mining facility to harvest materials from it. Entire wars could be fought over control of a particularly large blue asteroid with a decked out mining station on it.
So how about the ability to build mining stations?
First way of doing that which comes to mind for me would be blocks like factories which can be placed on asteroids that slowly produce ore/crystal/stone normally found on the asteroid on which it was placed. It would produce far less than simply eating the entire asteroid, but it would be a steady renewable supply of materials over time. Let factory enhancers speed up how fast you can extract material, and have an upper limit to how much you can get per tick based on the size of the asteroid you built it on.
That way, when the asteroid respawn thing gets fixed, you could eat the asteroid with salvage beams for a quick boost, or you could invest the resources into building a full mining facility to harvest materials from it. Entire wars could be fought over control of a particularly large blue asteroid with a decked out mining station on it.